Does anyone here own a or multiple starfish? I was considering getting one for my reef tank in the future (Mainly because my girlfriend wants one). I am hoping to get more people's experiences on keeping them. Success stories as well as failures.
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Starfish
- Thread starter raccioppi83
- Start date
If your looking for a good starfish to start of with try fromias, reef-safe won’t get exceptionally big compared to other starfish,hardy but IME fromias and Linkias never lasted more than a year. Though they are omnivore grazing alone they eventually starve if there’s not enough rock, so target feeding and just moving them to where the food is would help, Ive had better success with nonreef safe such as chocolate chips,red knobby’s and biscuit starfish.
I would definitely start with a Fromia, volcano or normal I'm not sure.. I just don't want it to starve so I'm always super hesitant about it. I would just like a nice invert that is not a shrimp to put in my tank. (I am getting a clam soon)
I've had back luck in the past with Linckia's as @raccioppi83 mentioned, they have just died on me no matter what i did. I have this huge (super cool) tiger striped, serpent star that literally walks around my tank all day scavenging for food. I also had a Red Thorny Sea Star a while back that i traded at a LFS as he was eating all of CUC.
Definitely i would go with a Fromia. If the tank is large enough you'll be able to house more than 1
Definitely i would go with a Fromia. If the tank is large enough you'll be able to house more than 1
Definitely could only house 1. I'm running a 40B with a 20L sump.
What do you deem as good success? I really don't want to put something in my tank that will only live for a year and slowly starve. 
Oh great to know! I'm sorry about Sandy I'm just thankful my tank wasn't up and running during that time.
I'm just thankful my tank wasn't up and running during that time.Hmm interesting. Have you noticed it possibly eating other corals? I've heard for the most part they are reef safe.
Okay that sounds promising. How large is your system and how long have you had it running?
There's theory that as soon as we put stars in our tank they begin to starve to death slowly, thus the shortened lifespans.
Big, old, stable tanks are recommended and even then they don't take to many. Mark (MadReefer) is one of the few people I know who's managed to keep one alive for over a year and he's got a small tank, which seems odd. Its probably plastic and he has it tied down with fishing line.
I did a bunch of research a few years back, here's what I remember...
Linkas are usually prone to failure and are tough to keep, blues are less forgiving than orange/reds.
Fromias are more forgiving than linkas but still suffer the same fate.
Sand stars will rip everything out of your sand in a few days and starve to death in a month or two (as will chocolate chip stars).
Chocolate chip stars do well in sumps as scavengers, but it mutes the point of having a star if you can't see it.
The serpent and brittle stars are very cool, very mobile, easy to keep, and will often come to the side of the tank when you feed, but they're not as pretty as other stars (think they're not classsified as a true stars).
Green serpent stars will hunt and kill your fish. The harlequins and striped are the way to go.
BTW, side note - I forgot who got my serpent star. I adopted him as he had no arms. Eventually the arms all grew back but then I adopted it out. Wondering how its doing.
Big, old, stable tanks are recommended and even then they don't take to many. Mark (MadReefer) is one of the few people I know who's managed to keep one alive for over a year and he's got a small tank, which seems odd. Its probably plastic and he has it tied down with fishing line.
I did a bunch of research a few years back, here's what I remember...
Linkas are usually prone to failure and are tough to keep, blues are less forgiving than orange/reds.
Fromias are more forgiving than linkas but still suffer the same fate.
Sand stars will rip everything out of your sand in a few days and starve to death in a month or two (as will chocolate chip stars).
Chocolate chip stars do well in sumps as scavengers, but it mutes the point of having a star if you can't see it.
The serpent and brittle stars are very cool, very mobile, easy to keep, and will often come to the side of the tank when you feed, but they're not as pretty as other stars (think they're not classsified as a true stars).
Green serpent stars will hunt and kill your fish. The harlequins and striped are the way to go.
BTW, side note - I forgot who got my serpent star. I adopted him as he had no arms. Eventually the arms all grew back but then I adopted it out. Wondering how its doing.
Quote "Its probably plastic and he has it tied down with fishing line." VERY FUNNY
My tank is 72g with 20g sump. At least I think its 20g. I cannot say why mine seem to survive.
I tend to bunch my rock together, even though I try not to. Maybe food falls in there and that's what eats??
My tank is 72g with 20g sump. At least I think its 20g. I cannot say why mine seem to survive.
I tend to bunch my rock together, even though I try not to. Maybe food falls in there and that's what eats??
So I am more on the lucky side like @MadReefer. In my 54g tank I had a serpent and a sand star for 2 years with no issues. In fact they went when I sold my live stock due to moving. My current 36g tank has a sand star and its just reaching the 2 month mark and seems to be doing well. With that said I have heard many folks say they don't have luck with stars.
Good luck
So they seem pretty hit or miss. Everything I'm doing in my system is hit or miss so far.. hitting atm *knock on wood* so ill probably go for one of these as well.
I’ve had a blue linckia 8 months and it’s great. Not long enough to call success yet but looking good. I have a 65g with a 10g hang-on fuge. Plenty of live rock. I’ve seen it reach out the few times I’ve put baby brine shrimp in the tank, so I’m wondering if it also feeds on pods and other small treats it finds. Makes its way slowly around the glass, at times on the live rock, and tends to stay on the glass close to the surface when it’s not cruising or feeding. Definitely the resident that draws the most attention when people see my tank. Was very torn on trying it but happy with how it’s doing so far.
I'm glad you're having a positive experience so far. Hopefully it continues to do well!